Juvenile Athletics in DSD

Juvenile Athletics in Ireland is defined by age groups, from Under 9 through to Under 19. This effectively means children of ages 8 to 18. A child is deemed to be under an age the child has to be under the age for the full calendar year. So, for example, a child who turns 18 on December 31st, is considered under 19 for that whole year and could be competing against someone who turned 18 on the previous January 1st. 7-10 year olds are also catered for in our separate "Little Athletics" programme.

DSD has many juvenile athletes of all abilities and age groups.These are catered for by a large group of volunteer coaches, who coach the athletes in all disciplines - running (cross country, track) and field events. DSD is affiliated to Athletics Ireland (the national athletic association) and operates under its structures. We are aghere to, and are fully committed to, its guidelines on Child Welfare. These guidelines are published elsewhere on our website.

In DSD we believe in training hard and competing hard, while having fun and enjoying ourselves. This ethos has resulted in many of our former juvenile athletes making firm friendships during their juvenile years which, in many cases, have outlasted their interest in the sport itself. Many of our senior athletes, including most of our international standard senior athletes, joined our club as juveniles.

Training hard and competing hard is different for different age groups and abilities. Athletes generally train with athletes of their own approximate age, this is for social reasons as much as training reasons. In general, training intensity increases with age and fitness, and our coaches are watchful of individual capability and manage the training sessions so that athletes of different abilities are stretched according to their ability, but not overstretched but still allowing them to training with their own age group.

Whether you want to be an olympic athlete, or to enjoy running in local races. or just keeping fit, DSD has room for you.